GAME SHOW was composed in May and June 1997. It was commissioned jointly for the Uster Festival in Switzerland and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and was written for the saxophonist Rob Buckland.

From time to time my life seems to hone in on the cosy ersatz world of soap operas, quiz shows, chat shows and phrases such as ‘...and on the conveyor belt tonight we have...’. This somewhat worrying interest in the glitzy, smiley and kitsch elements of popular culture seems to lie at odds with my desire for a non-passive society. In this piece I was very loosely trying to explore that nebulous territory between the high and the low, the superficial and the profound, the ironic, the camp and the notion of going ‘too far’.